The USA considers missile potentials of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea as the main sources of threats to their national security. In the early 2000s following the withdrawal from the Soviet-American ABM Treaty the US began to deploy a global ballistic missile defense system to protect their “homeland, US forces abroad and its allies” from potential and real threats. The set of basic elements of a multi-layer ballistic missile defense is generally the same, its architecture is always adapted to the local conditions of the regions of deployment and specific tasks. Their common designation is the ability to work as subsystems within an integrated, global in scope antiballistic missile defense system controlled by the United States. In the Asia-Pacific region, the United States is actively engaging its regional allies Australia, South Korea and Japan in a joint effort to build-up ABM capabilities while simultaneously increasing its military-strategic presence in the region. Moscow strongly opposes the program considering it as potential threat to the effectiveness of the Russian strategic nuclear forces and undermining strategic stability and considers emergence the ballistic missile subsystems in Europe and the Asian-Pacific Region as a direct threat to its security. US ABM policy provokes the accelerated development by China and the DPRK of ballistic missile delivery systems, encourages Russia to create new weapon systems that are guaranteed to be able to overcome any existing and future missile defense.

Status of Africa in Russian foreign policy is characterized by combination of high interests in multidirectional development of cooperation with some restrictions defined by geodistance, political instability, economic specifications of potential partners as well as unpreparedness of Russian business to manage projects within African realities. However development of cooperation between Russia and African states is in trend of Russian international strategy and shall be supported not only by practice of international relations but also by business and humanitarian cooperation and expansion of objective knowledge about African realities. After the period of reduction of Russian presence in Africa in the early 90-th, in recent 10-15 years we witness the inverse trend, that is controversially assessed by Russian and foreign experts. However the author of the article believes that the situation in 2018-2020 is positive, stable and predictable in general. That may be proved by system analysis of the system moments: role of Africa in current world order, cooperation of Russia with African states, promotion of Russian interests in the African region. That is worth mentioning that Russian policy at African direction increases its economic efficiency and material data of Russian-African economic cooperation is gradually growing.

The article is devoted to the analysis of historical retrospective and modern dynamics of region-building in the Baltic region. The cultural and historical foundation of regionalization processes in this area was laid over the centuries, although the framework was finally shaped in the 20th century: the Hanseatic League, the first attempts to create regional unions during the interwar period, the “northern cooperation” and the signing of the Helsinki Convention during the Cold War. In the post-bipolar period, the Baltic region continues to maintain its political and socio economic heterogeneity. Today, the key institution of multilateral cooperation uniting all countries of the region is the Council of the Baltic Sea States, whereas, from the EU perspective, the main self-sufficient instrument of regionalization is the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. At the same time, both formats rely in specific projects implementation on “horizontal actions” and network cooperation on the grass-roots level, which makes regional interaction practical to the greatest possible extent, largely depoliticized and stable in the long run.

The article deals with the origins and activities of the “White Helmets” (WH) organization in Syria during the crisis of 2013 and up to nowadays. The author rejects the view of the WH as a politically unbiased voluntary formation realizing humanitarian mission and claims that the organization was from the outset inspired externally to support anti-government forces in the Syrian Arab Republic. The article cites data exposing generous financing, various material endorsements and political guardianship provided for the “White Helmets” on the part of Western and a number of Middle East and Gulf sponsors. Analyzed also are the WH methods used to release its media products and perform various activities to cautiously distort the occurring events. The author claims a sinister role played by the WH in trumpeting up accusations the Syrian government troops of chemical attacks by against population of cities Khan Sheikhun and Douma. Later on, these accusations were used as an excuse for the airstrikes of the USA and its alliance partners against Syrian facilities. Summing up the activities of the “White Helmets”, the author puts forward some ideas to counter similar projects.

The paper considers the dynamics of the domestic political process in the Republic of Abkhazia in 2018. The pivot of this process was the presidential election campaign that started in 2018. The author makes an attempt to analyze the activities of both the current authorities and the opposition. The events of early 2018 related to the pardon of Georgy Lukava revitalized the slogan of early resignation of President Raul Khajimba that was taken off after the December 2016 agreements. The main dilemma the opposition faces now is that it cannot ignore the street protest but at the same time does not aspire the repetition of 2014 events. Special attention is paid to the positioning of ex-President Alexander Ankvab in relation to the authorities and the opposition. The struggle is also considered within originally pro-authorities forces (evidenced by the rivalry around the position of prime-minister and searching of an alternative to Khajimba as President) which, up to December 2018, led to some signs of split among Khajimba’s supporters. The author makes some short-term forecasts; in particular, he suggests that ex-Chairman of the State Security Council Astamur Tarba (who announced in March 2019 his intention to be nominated to the presidency) could count upon former supporters of Khajimba who had been disappointed in the current Head of State. Analyzed are also attempts to create “a third force” (“Common Cause”) as an alternative to both the authorities and the opposition. In conclusion, the pre-election alignment of forces and possible results of the election are considered, with special attention to the influence of Aslan Bjania’s illness on the electoral process.

Indigenous peoples are inheritors of earlier population of their present day territories of modern states, committed to their land and traditional way of life. The world community for many decades proceeds along the path of recognition the rights of indigenous peoples, the main of which, in the author’s opinion, is the right to choose the degree and form of their integration in the modern society. Historically, the attitude towards indigenous peoples’ rights developed from recognition of their right “to be as other peoples are” to the consent to their right to be different an original. One of the main tenet ensuring the realization of their right to originality, which has important practical implications, is the principle of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of indigenous peoples to affecting them economic and cultural activities of their dominant neighbors, as well as to more particular (including special) rights and implementation procedures resulting from them. In economic terms, it primarily concerns nature management and, especially, extraction of natural fossil and usage of biological resources, military activities, and waste disposal. The article analyzes the history of ideas about the of indigenous peoples’ rights and their legal fixation, as well as problems of interpretation of the principle of free, prior and informed consent and its implementation in various regions of the world and spheres of activity.

The paper deals with the dynamics of home and foreign policy of North Korea under Kim Jong-un leadership, especially in last several years. Analyzed are new trends in and prospects for the development of the situation on the Korean Peninsula in the context of North Korea transformation into a full-fledged nuclear state. The author considers the return to party-centered political system (instead of total militarization under Kim Jong-il) as well as cautious economic reforms including introduction of some market mechanisms and attempts aimed at formation of basics of innovative economics. Factors hampering the development of the country, in particular, various economic sanctions, are also discussed, as well as prospects for diplomatic dialogue of North Korea with countries on North-East Asia. Contact between the leaders of North Korea and the USA are touched upon. The problem of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is critically considered. In conclusion, possible directions of cooperation between Russia and North Korea are outlined.

Since XV-th century, when first Muslim state has been formed at Mindanao island in the south of the Philippines, practically two very different societies had to co-exist on the territory of the country: Muslims and Filipinos. It created a problem ad numerous conflicts which have not been solved so far. The aggravation between the Filipinos and the inhabitants of the southern island of Mindanao, which occurred in the XX-th century, led to a series of peace negotiations and attempts to reach political consensus. The idea of creating an autonomous territory in Mindanao within the framework of the Republic of the Philippines was framed in the form of a law, repeatedly elaborated, implemented, but without much success. Over the past 22 years, disagreements and a threat to the security of the region preserved, and strong tensions remained between the government of the Philippines and the Islamic leaders of Mindanao. When President Duterte came to power, another attempt was made to resolve this conflict, and for the first time in many years, a law was ratified based on the results of the plebiscite. This law can become the basis for the successful implementation of the idea of autonomy of Mindanao. However, it should be noted that in the near future the likelihood of armed clashes, provocations and serious terrorist acts by the forces of extremist groups in Mindanao is quite high.

The article analyzes the key aspects of the development of relations between Russia and the OSCE from the point of view of the complex issues of Euro-Atlantic security. According to the author, the acсession of Crimea to Russia and the crisis around Ukraine have further exacerbated the preceding tensions in bilateral relations. Today, they are much like the Cold war confrontation. In Europe, the military confrontation is now intensifying. Today Moscow is openly accused of undermining the foundations of the post-war order in Europe, of illegal steps to break the generally accepted international legal norms, of aggressive intentions that threaten European stability. At the same time, the existence of significant distrust between Russia and the West does not mean that we should wait for some pause, abandon attempts to take constructive steps to re-establish cooperation. Such an approach would be counterproductive – especially since both sides are sending, albeit muted, signals of readiness for dialogue. In this situation, the author proposes a number of initial steps that could increase the level of trust between the parties, would ideally move to a meaningful dialogue on the future of the European security architecture. Various OSCE mechanisms could play a useful role. The author emphasizes the importance of increasing the effectiveness of the OSCE-originated crisis mechanisms in the context of the erosion of strategic stability on the European continent as a result of the unprecedented deterioration of relations between Russia and the West. Special emphasis is placed on modernization of the crisis management potential of the OSCE and promotion of dialogue between the West and Russia, including the establishment of a novel consultative platform in the framework of the OSCE to discuss emerging crisis situations. A number of specific confidence-building measures are proposed to restore dialogue and find solutions to crisis situations in the region.

Nowadays maritime piracy is one of the most serious non-traditional security challenges. After significant progress in the fight against maritime piracy in Somalia waters, the situation with maritime piracy and maritime terrorism in South-East Asia once again became the focus of attention of not only regional powers, but also extra-regional actors. At the same time, the ASEAN members States have consistently opposed the internationalization of the South-East Asia maritime piracy problem considering the situation from the point of view of protecting their own sovereignty. However, the regional states themselves do not have sufficient capacity to effectively counter maritime piracy, despite some successes in this field.

The article is devoted to the influence of the American military presence in Germany on the foreign policy strategy of the German leadership in the matter of ensuring the security of Germany. The location of the US Army in a number of German lands has remained a significant factor in German foreign policy since the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. After the reunification of Germany in 1990, the German government expanded its foreign policy activity based on the system of Western alliances and a multilateral approach. The crisis in the Western community, exacerbated by the actions of the administration of the Donald Trump, raised among the German elites concerns regarding the reliability and predictability of the overseas ally. Despite the declarative statements of German officials about the intention to strengthen the defense potential of the EU, German politicians face difficulties in finding alternatives to US security guarantees.

The Activities of the Caucasian Workshop (January to June, 2019).